SIMBAD references

Using the AKARI, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data, we investigated the relation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) mass (M_PAH), very small grain mass (M_VSG), big grain mass (M_BG) and stellar mass (M_star) with galaxy merger for 55 star-forming galaxies at redshift z < 0.2. Using the SDSS image at z < 0.1 and the HST image at z > 0.1, we divided the galaxies into merger galaxies and non-merger galaxies with the morphological parameter asymmetry A, and quantified merging stages of galaxies based on the morphological indicators, the second-order momentum of the brightest 20 per cent region M₂₀ and the Gini coefficient. We find that M_PAH/M_BG of merger galaxies tend to be lower than that of non-merger galaxies and there are no systematic differences of M_VSG/M_BG and M_BG/M_star between merger galaxies and non-merger galaxies. We find that galaxies with very low M_PAH/M_BG seem to be merger galaxies at late stages. These results suggest that PAHs are partly destroyed at late stages of merging processes. Furthermore, we investigated M_PAH/M_BG variations in radiation field intensity strength G₀ and the emission line ratio of [ O  I]  λ6300/ Hαthat is a shock tracer for merger galaxies and find that M_PAH/M_BG decreases with increasing both G₀ and [ O  I]/ Hα. PAH destruction is likely to be caused by two processes: strong radiation fields and large-scale shocks during merging processes of galaxies.